Albany Nears Alcohol Limits For Stadiums

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Sales and consumption of alcohol would be prohibited in at least 6 percent of the seats at major professional sports stadiums and arenas under a bill agreed to by key state legislators.

The agreement on the bill marks a defeat for the professional baseball, football, basketball and hockey franchises that had killed a similar, but significantly more restrictive measure last year in the State Senate. That bill would have required the stadiums and arenas to set aside 25 percent of their seats as alcohol-free.

The Senate is expected to pass the revised measure early next week, and the Assembly soon after that, although representatives of the Mets, the Yankees and the stadium beer vendors have vowed to fight it. Restrictions in Phases

A spokeswoman for Governor Cuomo, Anne Crowley, said Mr. Cuomo has not determined if he would sign the bill.

The bill would require stadiums and arenas in New York City, Buffalo and Nassau County to ban sales and consumption of alcohol in 2 percent of their seats over the next year and to add 2 percent a year to that until 1991.

The stadiums and arenas would also be required to set aside an additional 15 percent of their seats as non-vending seats, where alcohol could not be purchased, but could be consumed. This requirement would be phased in over the next three years as well, 5 percent a year.

Labor officials who oppose the bill have estimated that it would cost unionized vendors at Yankee and Shea Stadiums alone up to $700,000 annually in wages.

The move to restrict alcohol consumption at sporting events has gained momentum here over the last few years because of complaints that the atmosphere in many stadiums and arenas has increasingly been dominated by drunkenness and rowdiness. But last year, one of the major sponsors of the bill to restrict alcohol consumption, Senator John R. Dunne, Republican of Garden City, withdrew his bill in the face of opposition from the Mets and the Yankees.

Mr. Dunne said today that the revised bill ''strikes a happy balance'' between the concerns of the teams and stadium operators and those of the fans.

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, Democrat of Greenburgh, who is the primary sponsor of the bill in his house, said the Legislature had to ''intervene on the behalf of the fans,'' despite the opposition of the professional ball clubs. Exemptions Possible

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The ball clubs have argued that they are already taking voluntary measures to curb drunkenness in the stands and that there is insufficient demand to justify restricting alcohol sales in so many seats.

The bill contains a provision that allows stadium and arena operators to seek an exemption. If, after the first year of the phase-in period, the demand for alcohol-free seating is low, stadium operators may apply to the State Liquor Authority to set aside permanently just 2 percent of the seats, instead of 6 percent.

The Yankees and the Mets cut off the sale of beer after the seventh inning. And last year the Yankees began to set aside at each game 1,000 seats where no alcohol can be consumed.

But supporters of the bill have argued that the measures taken by the ball clubs are insufficient, and they argue that the Yankees discouraged the purchase of alcohol-free seats by setting aside fewer desirable seats.

Under the bill, stadium and arena operators would be able to choose where to place the alcohol-free seats. But once the provisions of the bill are fully phased in, the seats would have to be distributed equally among the different price areas.

The stadiums and arenas affected by the bill would be: Yankee and Shea Stadiums in New York City, the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, and the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, Pilot Field and Rich Stadium in Buffalo. Madison Square Garden would also be affected by the bill, but because the Garden has already restricted the sale of beer to fixed vending stands, it would be required to set aside only 2 percent of its seats as alcohol-free.

In addition to the requirements on alcohol and vending-free seats, the bill would provide stadium and arena operators with the authority to appoint peace officers, who, with the consent of the local police commissioner, would help to ''preserve order.'' The peace officers, who would not be allowed to carry guns unless they were also police officers, would have the power to ''eject or arrest'' people who were breaking the stadiums' rules or acting disorderly.

A version of this article appears in print on May 3, 1988, on Page B00001 of the National edition with the headline: Albany Nears Alcohol Limits For Stadiums. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe